Foreword
– Matthew von Brockdorff
Our roots can be traced back to when pioneers like Albert and Victor von Brockdorff, who founded their insurance agency in 1920; Walter Camilleri, who followed suit in 1927, and then Alfred Formosa in 1945, laid the groundwork for what would eventually evolve into the Atlas of today. Over the past century, our antecedents steered their businesses through challenges and triumphs, eventually leading to the merger in 1998 instigated by Walter G. Camilleri and my father Robert von Brockdorff together with Brian Valenzia and later with Michael Gatt in 2000 to create Atlas Insurance.
Foreword
– Catherine Calleja
Our story, the Atlas story, is intimately connected, as is that of our nation, with our maritime history and harbours, without which we would not be a nation state today. This is why we are so pleased to be putting together this celebration in our beautiful capital city – surrounding by our harbours – and in the Malta Chamber building at the heart of our commercial history.
Curator’s Note
– Justine Balzan Demajo
‘Centennial Chronicles: Celebrating Malta’s Commercial Legacy’, offers a multidimensional exploration of Malta’s economic and socio-political landscape over the past century. It is thanks to Atlas Insurance and their willingness to portray our commercial history, whilst also celebrating their clients over the last hundred years, that this exhibition took place at all. By analysing the interplay between industry and society, this exhibition serves as a dynamic platform for introspection and dialogue. Each engaging exhibit, with its mixed media and disciplines, unveils a fragment of our nation’s narrative, and above all our identity.
The Changing Commercial Landscape of Valletta
– Giovanni Bonello
My early recollections of the disciplines of insurance appear mostly scattered, unfocused and probably, quite irrelevant. When studying insurance law at university, I still remember my surprise at finding that, to avoid post-incident insurance frauds, the law expressly laid down a presumption that news travels at a speed of twenty miles per hour. So, twenty miles an hour was the reasonable speed a messenger on horseback could have carried the latest news. Ok, in the fifties we were still cheated of the pleasures of internet and mobile phones, but we already enjoyed radio and the airplane. I’ve been assured news travels faster nowadays.
Malta’s Harbours and its Economic History
– Dr Mario Brincat
It has often been said that all roads lead to Rome; in Maltese history practically all roads lead to the sea and our harbours, or nowadays the airport. In fact, as I often tell my students, without its harbours the Maltese Islands would have followed the same development path as their close neighbours Lampedusa and Pantelleria.
Safeguarding Commerce: Atlas’ Legacy at the Malta Chamber
– Nikolai Debono
In 1967, the chairman of the Malta Insurance Association sent a heated letter to the director of Sheffield Newspapers Ltd. In it, J. Caruana-Montaldo makes reference to insulting comments about the local insurance industry, such as the need for ‘top men’. Mr. Montaldo retorts: “during your next visit to Malta it would be illuminating to visit the Malta Chamber of Commerce which possesses perfectly preserved policies issued by Maltese insurance companies over 100 years ago.”
The OEA Brewery in Tripoli, the start of a North African venture for Simonds-Farsons Ltd
– Martin Spiteri & Claire Barbara
The launch of the Farsons Pale Ale in April 1928 by L. Farrugia & Sons (Farsons) was such an immediate success that within a year competitors H.& G. Simonds of Reading agreed to merge with the Farsons brewery. Simonds- Farsons (S-F) brought together Simonds’ British NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) network and Farsons’ exclusivity concession from the Crown to brew ales. Amongst the many British Forces’ outposts, S-F held a two-year lease for bonded stores and bottling operations in the Alexandria (Egypt).
Centennial Chronicles: A celebration of Malta’s commercial legacy
– Times of Malta
Feature on the Times of Malta: “A 100-year legacy is a momentous one. It embodies the intertwining narratives of countless lives traversing the corridors of time, the stories that speak volumes of human endeavour, the march of progress and myriad events.”
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